Leveling device



Aug. 14, 1951 R. A. HANSON 2,564,202

LEVELING DEVICE Filed June 29, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor elm WW 19m 4, 1951 R. A. HANSON 2,564,202

LEVELING DEVICE Filed June 29, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor 12a 5/222 022 4 /577472 Hanson (ma W e75 Patented Aug. 14, 1951 LEVELING DEVICE Raymond Alvah Hanson, Palouse, Wash, assignor of one-third to Ray Hanson, Palouse, Wash.

Application June 29, 1945, Serial No. 602,317

1 Claim.

1 This invention relates to a leveling device for vehicles such as a harvesting machine, or other machine, which is moved forwardly across afield when in use and must be kept substantiallyhorizontal in order to operate properly.

One object of the invention is to provide a vehicle having a body'which is tiltable trans-' versely and has wheels at opposite sides and is equipped with an improved arrangement'of Evertically extending rock bars meshing with pinions carried by a shaft which is rotatably mounted transversely of the vehicle body and adapted to be selectively rotated in predetermined directions so that as it is turned one side of the vehicle willbe raised and the other moved downwardly. It will thus be seen that when using the machine for side hill harvesting or the like, its body portion may be readily tilted transversely and held in a horizontal position.

Another object of the invention is to provide leveling mechanism including an improved arrangement of gears and a clutch which is shiftableto adjusted position for selectively causing rotation of the pinion-carrying shaft in predetermined directions, the said clutch being moved by mechanism including a bell crank lever and a rod which is shifted longitudinally of the vehicle and thereby moves the bell crank lever about its pivot to shift the clutch.

Another object of the invention is to provide leveling mechanism wherein the lever operating the rod may be automatically shifted longitudinally in response to transverse tilting of the machine as the machine moves across a hilly or uneven field.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein: N

Fig. 1 is a side view of a farm implement equipped with the improved leveling mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, upon an enlarged scale. taken hor zontally through the gear box of the leveling mechanism.

Referring to the drawings in detail, a farm implement designated generally 1 5, which may be a harvester. combine or other type of farm machine which must operate at all times in a horizontal plane, comprises a body It to which is attached a transversely extending bar I1, the outer ends of which are supported in suitable brackets l8. Mounted on opposite ends of this bar on opposite sides of the body It are U-shaped yokes l9 between which the ground Wheels 2!! and 2| are rotatably mounted. It is understood, of course, that the yokes 19 are pivoted to the bar I! so as to swing in a vertical plane about the horizontal axis of the bar. Extending outwardly from the sides of the body It on opposite sides are brackets 21 carrying guide yokes 22 in which vertically sliding bars 23 are supported. The lower ends of these bars are attached to the axles 24about which the wheels 29 and 2| turn, while the upperends of the bars project beyond the top of the body 5 i and are provided along their edges with rack teeth 25. As illustrated in Figure 2, the bars 23 which are associated with the wheel 2,!) are arranged so that the rack teeth 25 thereon face in a direction opposite the teeth 25 on the bars 23 which are associated with the ground wheel 2!. Arranged on the top of the body It between the bars 23 is a gear housing 26 through which a transversely extending shaft 2'! projects from opposite sides. This shaft is mounted to rotate in brackets 28 attached to the top of the body It and carries at its extreme end pinions 29 which have meshing engagement with the rack teeth 25 of the bars 23. Similar pinions 30 are carried by the shaft 27 in spaced relation to the pinions 29 and have meshing engagement with the rack teeth on theinner bars 23, i. e., those on the insides of the wheels 20 and 2 I. Keyed to the shaft 2'! for longitudinal sliding motion thereon intermediate its ends and within the housing 26 is a c utch collar 3! having teeth 32 and 33 at opposite ends. This clutch collar is provided intermediate its ends with a groove for the reception of an operating fork 34 pivoted, as at 35, and carrying an arm 36 to which a link 31 is pivoted. Mounted for independent rotation on the shaft 21 on opposite sides of the clutch collar 3! are beveled pinions 35 and 39 which have meshing engagement with a beveled drive pinion 40 carried at the end of a drive shaft 4| which is continuously driven from any su table source of power. From the foregoing it will be obvious that by shifting the clutch collar 3! longitudinally on the shaft 21 the c utch teeth 32 or 33 will be moved into engagement with the pinions 38 or 38, respectively, depending on the direction in which the clutch collar is moved, so as to cause the shaft to revolve with one or the other of such pinions, and in th s way the ro ation of the shaft 2 ma be governed b mer ly moving the link 3? longitudinall of the body IS. A box or housing 42 is mounted for ardly of the gear housing and into this housing 52 extends the front end portion of the shaft 31. An automatic mechanism devised for importing lon itudinal movement to the shaft 3,] is mounted within the housing 42 and serves to effect movement of the bell crank lever 36 about its pivot when the forming implement is tilted transversely by uneven places in a field or by variations in the slope of hilly ground across which the implement is moved while in use.

The operation of the device is believed to be changes in the details of construction, combina--' tion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope" of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

In a vehicle including a body, yokes extending.

longitudinally of the vehicle at each side thereof and pivoted for vertical tilting movement-wheels rotatably carried by said yokes, and rack bars ex- ;tending vertically jromdthel yokesn Land. forward with eteethialongledge faces; mechanism-for level- ,ingwthe. .bodywcomprising aw-ushaftmrotatably amounted across the, body stransyerselygthereof, ,opinions. carried, by, said ,,,shaft., and, meshing with the teeth ofwsaidracknbars, the. teeth of the rack bar. at-one side oIthe body being. across its-front ,l faceand the teeth; of, the bars at the opposite side of the body, being across its rear face whereby -,-the, bars move inioppqsite directions during rotation of ,thershaft, arotary drivewshaft extendin 1O g t iI y, .Said bodylandflcarryi a v- 30 eled gear, beveled gears loose upon the first shaft and meshing with opposite side portions of the gear carried by the drive shaft, a clutch slidable along the first shaft between the gears thereon into selective gripping engagement with the beveled gears thereon for rotating the first shaft in selected directions, a-lever for moving said clutch to adjusted positions, and'means for actuating the lever to shift the clutch along the first shaft into engagement with a selected one of the gears thereon and cause rotation of the first shaft in a predetermined direction to efiect leveling of the 1,:RAYMOND ALVAH HANSON.

'- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

)UNITED STATES PATENTS .2 Number Name "Date K'705',',731 ,Ach July. 29, 1902 905,985 Clove Dec. 23,1908 1,262,829 '7 'Neumeier iAprfi 16;1918 ,1,558','567 Schein Oct. 2'1,"v 1925 1,909,918 Tanner -May16;'1933 i 2,101,837 Blanchett "Dec.-- 14;193'7 2,202,009 Knox et a1 May"28," l940 2,359,961 Anthony Oct. 10, 1944 

